


Need To Know

by tonia_barone



Series: Unexpected [2]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry Has No Respect For Personal Boundaries, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-19 23:05:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10649934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonia_barone/pseuds/tonia_barone
Summary: Barry is the best CSI at CCPD for a reason.





	Need To Know

**Author's Note:**

> The companion fic to "Late" that I never expected to write. However, looking at that fic, Barry kept poking me like "Dude. Dude! DUDE!!!" and this fic was born.
> 
> EDIT: Shout out to [seattlemeg](http://archiveofourown.org/users/seattlemeg) for supplying the medical info for this fic. I forgot she had an account.

Something was different about Iris.  Barry had first noticed it a couple weeks ago.  There was just an energy, a… _something_ about her that he just couldn’t pin down.  It was good, whatever it was, he knew that much.  He didn’t think much of it until he noticed she woke up nauseous a few mornings in a row.  Iris brushed it off, saying she was probably coming down with something, but Barry wondered.  Other than a vague nausea that lasted until late morning, she was also a little more tired than usual.  Maybe she was coming down with a bug. 

It was the small chance of that _other_ that drove Barry to ask Caitlin for instruction in how to properly draw blood from someone.  He posed it as a ‘just in case’ scenario, since they were always getting into trouble.  Barry hated lying to her, but he had a plan and he wanted to get it right.  So after an educating afternoon practicing on Caitlin, Cisco, and H.R. at Caitlin’s insistence—then having the two other men practice on him, so everyone knew how to do it—Barry had the technique down pat.  Now he just had to draw the blood he needed for testing.

No matter how quick he was, Iris would notice the pinch of the needle going in and the few drops of blood appearing.  To that end, one afternoon Barry pocketed what he needed to put Iris to sleep and keep her that way until he was done.  Yes, he was technically slipping her a roofie, but it wasn’t for nefarious purposes!  He just wanted to…clandestinely draw her blood and take it to his lab for testing to see if she was pregnant.  As the other possible parent, he had a right to know.  Barry tried not to think about how betrayed Iris would feel, or how long the silent treatment would be if she found out what he was planning to do.

A couple days after Caitlin’s phlebotomy class, Iris seemed to change.  She withdrew a little, which she put down to being sick.  When he asked about it, Iris said that she had made an appointment with her doctor to get checked out.  Barry left it at that, but again he wondered.  A couple days later, Barry decided he needed to act now.  Iris was beginning to act squirrely, and she seemed to be finding it hard to look at him.

Before Barry left the precinct, he gathered the materials he’d need to drug Iris’ tea that night.  He felt horrible as he watched her drink it as normal and pass out soon after, but he _had_ to know if his suspicions were right.  It wouldn’t change anything, not really.  In fact, it might actually make things a whole lot worse for a host of reasons.  But he needed to know.

He helped her to bed first.  He changed her into pajamas, and made her as comfortable as he could before he pulled out the syringe and small vial he stole from Caitlin’s supply cabinet.  The actual process was quick, and in a matter of minutes he had a full vial of blood, and the prick site cleaned up.  Barry frowned at the tiny bruise forming where the needle went into the crook of her elbow, but there wasn’t anything he could do about that now.

Since Iris would be out for a while, Barry ran to his lab to run the tests.  He set up the full panel of typical tests a doctor’s office would run, including the pregnancy test and left it running overnight.  They should be done sometime the following afternoon, before he left work.  The pregnancy test was the quickest of the lot, but he resisted the urge to stay for it to finish.  Barry didn’t like the thought of Iris vulnerable at home.

The next day, Barry stayed after work later than he normally would as he waited for the last results to come in.  Iris wouldn’t know since her doctor’s appointment was that afternoon after she got off work.  While he waited, Barry dealt with the small backlog of reports he had sitting.  He’d been so tied up with Flash stuff lately that he was getting behind.  Captain Singh, thankfully, gave him enough slack that he wasn’t horribly late with getting the reports out.  Barry had the brief thought that maybe the Captain knew he was the Flash, but he left that thought unfinished as the results of the blood tests began printing.

Barry waited impatiently for the results to finish printing.  Once he had them in hand, he read through the results in the time it took to blink.  Aside from some dehydration, and some to-be-expected anxiety and mild depression, she was pretty healthy, thankfully.  Her white blood cell count was in normal range, and her cholesterol levels were good.  At last, he reached the pregnancy results:

_hCG 13mlU/ml_

Barry stared at the number on the page.  Test results with an hCG under 5 mlU/ml was considered a negative result; 5 to 25 mlU/ml was an equivocal result.  Therefore, hCG 13mlU/ml meant...  Barry stumbled back to fall into his chair, still in shock.  “Iris is pregnant.”  Even hearing himself say the words, it didn’t feel real.  “We’re having a baby.”  Nope, still not real.

He wasn’t sure how long he sat there, staring blankly at the page in his hands, but he was brought out of the fugue by his phone ringing.  _Iris_.  Barry fumbled with his phone before answering, “Hey, Iris, how’d your appointment go?”  _Shit_ , Barry thought to himself.  She had a doctor’s appointment.  Did she know?

“Hi, Barry.  It went fine.  Doctor Irving said that it was just a stomach bug, and he gave me something for the nausea.  It should clear up in a few days.  I have a follow-up appointment in a week to make sure I’m in the clear.”  She didn’t sound as if she was lying, and she mentioned nothing about being pregnant.  Maybe she didn’t know.

“I’m glad to hear it.  Are you on your way home?  I could swing by and pick you up, if you want?” 

Iris laughed at his offer.  “Oh no, I don’t think so.  The last thing my upset tummy needs is to be carried at supersonic speeds.  It’s fine, Barr, I’ll just get a taxi.  Are you still at the lab?”

“Yeah, I’m just finishing up a couple of late reports.  I’m surprised Captain Singh hasn’t chewed my head off over them, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.  I’ve got one more report to get through, and then I’ll be home.  I shouldn’t be much later than you getting home.”

“Alright, Barr, I’ll see you at home.  Love you.”  Was her voice suddenly wavering?

“I love you, Iris.  I’ll see you in a little bit,” Barry said before hanging up.  He stared at his phone pensively for a few minutes before rolling over to his shredder.  It would do nobody any good if these results were found.  Never mind the legalities of the tests themselves—or the lack thereof—Joe would have a fit if he found out that Iris was pregnant. 

Barry closed his eyes as he remembered that she had less than four months left before she was ripped from him.  Her pregnancy just brought a new sense of urgency to finding a way to save her; to save _them_ : Iris and their unborn child.  He bit back a sob as he punched the desk.  What should be happy news was tainted by Savitar.  By him being the Flash. 

He’d give it until after Iris’ follow-up appointment.  If after that she didn’t say anything, he’d bring up his illicit test.  They deserved a little happiness, and they had to start planning for the future.  Barry refused to let Iris and their baby die at the hands of Savitar.


End file.
